An ancient Jewish system of learning is being suggested as the way forward for schools in the UK.

Professor Peter Tymms, Head of Durham University's School of Education, recently published his groundbreaking findings on effective pedagogic methodology.

The traditional way of teaching the background of the Omer period, between Pesach and Shavuot, is that its original, joyful harvest spirit was suddenly transformed into a period of semi-mourning on account of a tragedy that occurred to the disciples of Rabbi Akiva (135 CE).

The talmudic account of that tragedy is significantly vague and is a tapestry of statements by different sages, rather tha

I srael's Declaration of Independence pledged "absolute equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants, irrespective of religion, race or sex". This pledge was surely derived from the age-old Jewish idea that all human beings are created equal.

Abraham Levy has a problem with labels. As the spiritual leader of Britain's Spanish and Portuguese congregation, the Sephardim, he rejects the denominational categories that divide the rest of Anglo-Jewry. No Orthodox, Reform, Liberal or Masorti tags for him and his flock.

"I follow the halachah as Sephardim have kept it for 2,000 years," he says. "We are Jews without ideological adjectives.

An exhibition of sacred texts in the Vatican features a section of the Dead Sea Scrolls, displayed in a mock-up cave. Most visitors probably assume the exhibits were brought from Jerusalem.

For more than 20 years, Rabbi Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah has been at the forefront of the struggle for egalitarianism in Judaism - both as a feminist and as one of the first openly gay or lesbian rabbis to break through the heterosexual monopoly.

Her belief in challenging the status quo partly gives the title to her new collection of essays, Trouble-Making Judaism.

A few weeks ago, I witnessed a pitch battle in downtown Jerusalem involving Israelis and Palestinians.

Women's Megillah readings have become increasingly popular over the past decade, reflecting the growing interest of women in their religious development. I know of at least half a dozen that will take place next week in United Synagogue communities at Purim including Radlett, Borehamwood and Muswell Hill.

Kosher Jesus
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
Gefen, $26

Jesus was an observant Jew, a loyal patriot who fought to save Israel from Roman tyranny. His message was distorted by Paul, the architect of Christianity. This resulted in Jesus's alienation from his people.

Homosexuality refuses to leave the community headlines.

It is not uncommon for yeshivah heads to come here in search of potential students. But Rabbi Dov Linzer, who will be speaking at several United Synagogues over the weekend on his first trip to the UK, is different. His yeshivah, Chovevei Torah, is based in New York, not in Israel.

We like our religion dark and dangerous, at least according to trends in contemporary fiction. Since Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code - the best-known example - a steady stream of conspiracy thrillers has fed our fascination with ancient scrolls, secretive sects and Templar knights.

I recently had a conversation with a leading MP, a friend of the Jewish community and the state of Israel. This individual has gone to great lengths to protect the UK-Israel connection.

When Aharon Rubin was young, his family went on a picnic to Kew Gardens. "I saw a man sitting perfectly still on the grass, who my father told us was 'meditating'," he recalled.

Throughout much of the 20th century, cheder played a major part in Anglo-Jewish education. Particularly when Jewish schools were few and far between, or widely viewed as too religious, generations of Jewish children attended mainstream schools in the day and cheder on weekday evenings and on Sundays.

Chanucah, the festival of lights, is, in our own day, mainly the commemoration of a spiritual event. Its historical roots, however, as set out in the Book of Maccabees, were the celebration of a great military victory over the Syrian-Greek overlords.

The Talmud's description concentrates on the laws of keeping the Chanucah lights burning (Masechet Shabbat 21b-24a).

Judaism is the most astonishing and daring religion the world has been blessed with. It defies all definitions and stands heads and shoulders above anything else I know. It is not just a faith, a sentiment or a ritual, but above all an intricate and immense exploration of what we might call the holy dimension of existence.

Israel has more than enough to worry about - the uncertain outcome of the Arab spring, the paralysed peace process, not to forget the nuclear ambitions of the theocrats of Tehran.

'Now is the winter of our discontent", proclaimed Shakespeare's Richard III. Our rabbis agreed. Moving from an intense period of festivals and fasts, packed with commandments, to the first month of the winter which has no festivals at all, they felt deprived. They called this period Marcheshvan or "the bitter month of Cheshvan".

Now Cheshvan has had a makeover.